Locate an Auto Repair Shop in La Sal, Utah

La Sal, UT Car Consumer Discussions

Hi All

by salbaby1972 on Wed Jun 09 09:53:09 PDT 2004

I just want to introduce myself as Bob asked: Sal Los Angeles, CA 2003 Baja - Yellow (A crazy car deserves a crazy color.) A super niche move. We put our 2 mountain bike in back with the Subie bed bike mounts and when we use our tandem bike we can slide it through the mid-gate. We live in a condo in West LA so we even can drive in our parking structure. I've been posting for a while now. I've learned alot here at Subaru Crew.

Re: [ateixeira #14478]

by salbaby1972 on Tue Jun 15 13:14:48 PDT 2004

A dealer in LA put 20s on a red Forester XT and was charging 3K more for the car. 2 weeks later the car was gone. I would not buy the Forester XT with dubs, but someone did. Lets have a Subaru Crew Karaoke party with your car? heheee :) Karaoke - no email - yes games - no navi - yes bluetooth - yes phone - yes internet access - yes back up camera - yes climate control - yes trip computer -yes audio controls - yes voice recorder for notes - yes voice command - yes Tuner cars are fun, but not my thing. I like them stock... --Sal

no title

by salbaby1972 on Tue Feb 17 12:29:22 PST 2004

We are pulling for you and your Dad in LA. --Sal

Leaf Blower

by darbh on Thu Jul 19 01:54:42 PDT 2001

Pblevine: Thanks for the acknowledgment. Appreciated. Re: chamois. I know that the high-end wax crowd abandoned chamois a while ago. I think they believe that a chamois will remove some of the wax and/or that it will deposit oil on the paint surface. Sal believes that one should use cotton towels. But, clearly you are an experienced person, and observant, so I would assume you have not noticed any draw backs? Pjyoung: Yes, one of the benefits of the blower is getting all that hidden water flushed out. I hate doing a full wash and Z job, then two hours later I find water spots on the bumpers, below the door handles and below the gas filler door. Thankfully, they clean up more easily because of the Z. But, the blower prevents the problem from occurring in the first place. killakella123 brings up a matter of legitimate concern. How fast does the blower blow and will a high rate of air flow damage the car? Clearly, at a sufficiently high speed it would. Heck, some manufacturing facilities use water to cut solid materials, which it will under high enough pressure. Electric blowers produce air speeds of 100 to about 150 mph. Gas blows can get up to around 170 or higher. I have heard that someone drove my old LS 400 at top speed for a short while on the way to Las Vegas -- solely (yeah, right) to verify the manufacture's claim that the car would do a 152 mph (it can). [I repeat, I had nothing to do with this reckless exhibition of speed ;) .] The paint remained on the car (but bug impacts become much more dramatic at such speed and, over time, would be damaging, I am sure. However, you are likely to have been arrested before that occurs. I do not think bug impacts would be a problem with the blower, as any bug would have been quite pulverized before being shot out of the blower. Now, I think the blower is even safer that the conclusion that the above example would lead to. And, that is because the manufacturers want to be able to promote high blower speeds, so they measure the air speed immediately on exit from the blower nossle. The speed drops dramatically with every inch after exit, so I am not directing 140 mph air at the car. So, I think the long and the short of it is that killakella123 is right. The air is usually not going faster than what the front of the car experiences in normal freeway driving. Squidd posed some intelligent questions, also. "Don't you run the risk of blowing grit from the floor or driveway onto and across the car?" Good thinking. The answer is "yes?" And, you guessed the right solution, below. "Or do you just point it down and blow the water onto the ground?" Yes, you are right. Jeez, this group has some smart people in it. I have an electric blower, so it is light and does not care what angle I hold it at. So, I hold it high (over shoulder height and sometimes over my head), in two hands, with the hand on the back of the blower higher than the hand on the front (which is holding the air discharge nossle). In this way, the blower's air intake is high off the ground AND the air is being angled downward. The other reason I do not have a problem is that the driveway is clean and (probably more importantly) wet, because I just washed the car on it, so 1. there is not much dirt to tire up to begin with 2. what dirt, if any, remains is wet and 3., as discussed above, the air speed falls off really fast with distance, so the speed has dropped significantly by the time the air hits the ground. Now, if you put the blower nossle an inch from the ground, I am sure one would have a problem. But, there is no reason to do this. I do love to use the blower to get the water off the very lowest painted parts of the car body, which on mine go around and under the car (which is a bitch to dry by hand). I still have no problem, because I lower the blower so it is not angling sharply downward -- it is, instead, roughly parallel to the ground (actually, slightly downwardly pointed). "Have you had any trouble with this?" None "and how long does it take to do the whole car after washing?" About two minutes, including blowing the water out of all those pesky places, which is one of the main reasons I use it. The other main reason is that I like anything that reduces the rubbing of the paint. "Right now, I use the Calif Water Blade, which I bought after reading comments here, and am, somewhat to my surprise, very pleased. This seems to get lots of water off quickly, leaves no scratches, and I can dry the rest quickly with one towel." I have a blade, too. Most people report good results with the blade. If I have to wash the car early in the morning, I use the blade so as to not disturb my neibors (and, it's against the law, to use a blower before 8:00 am in LA, where I live -- Use a Blower, Go to Jail -- actually, there's just a fine). A percentage of blade users on detailing sites report having scratched their cars with a blade, however, by picking up some bit of something and dragging it across the paint. Several of those still use the blade, but inspect it and run a towel over it frequently to pick up any dirt, particles, etc. There is one draw back to a blower if you live in a low humidity/high temperature area. You have to have a helper to follow immediately behind you with a towel, or you have to blow small sections yourself and then towel, if you wash the car in the heat and particularly in the heat and in the sun. Why? If the car body and the paint are hot and the car is in the sun, and you then blow dry the car, you will get some water spots if you do not towel immediately (to pick up the small bits of water that have not been blown off the car). Of course, we are not supposed to be washing our cars in the heat, particularly if the cars are also in direct sunlight. But, sometimes I don't get up early enough on Saturday morning! A final note on blowers. The consensus from the other discussion groups is that one should use an electric blower. They are worried about spraying micro-drops of oil on the paint. I have no idea if this fear is legitimate, though I understand the concerns that would lead to the fear. So, why would one consider a gas blower? Gas blowers blow harder. Electric blowers have lower air speeds. But, I have not found this to be a problem if you buy a top rated electric (such as the top of the line Toro). Also, electrics cost about one third of gas blowers (a top of the line Toro is about $65, gas models are around $200 and go up from there). And, as noted, electrics are quieter. Now, if you already own a gas blower, I guess you could just give it a try and cease use if you noticed a problem.

Slickrockmobile

by slickrock on Mon Apr 09 15:09:55 PDT 2001

Hmmm... Let's try this: Looking down Long Canyon at the La Sal Mountains near Moab, Utah.

sdgrant

by newwestd on Mon May 15 05:28:27 PDT 2000

Congratulations on the gorgeous car! I wish I had the patience to own and take care of such a great car. Please contact Sal Zaino - he will give you the information about how to prep the car properly for the best Z finish. www.zainobros.com